Little Village Residents Support the Struggle to Clean-Up
and Move both Acme Barrel and Meyer Steel Drum

Contact: LVEJO Coordinator

The people of Little Village are here today to express their solidarity with the workers and youth of the Cook County Juvenile Center in their attempt to clean-up Acme Barrel.

We call for a complete investigation by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) into the health conditions of the workers at both the Juvenile Center and Acme Barrel (almost all of whom are African Americans and Latinos).

We also call for a complete investigation by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) into the health conditions of the youth and children held within the Cook County Juvenile Facility (almost all of whom are African American and Latinos) and the residents who live near Acme Barrel. In the 21st century no industrial facility should be located next door to where people live.

Meyer Steel Drum's recycling barrel plant at 32nd & Millard is similar to Acme's. It is right next to where thousands of people live in Little Village, Chicago's largest Latino neighborhood. As the city's youngest residents, the Latinos who live next to Meyer Steel Drum are at the highest risk for health problems.

A 1994 air study commissioned by the Public Building Commission of Chicago showed that Meyer was a source of 6 toxic air pollutants. 3 of these: benzene, toluene and acetone were higher than at other Chicago air monitoring stations. The Chicago Department of Environment reviewed these findings along with numerous nuisance complaints by Meyer's neighbors, but did nothing. 8 years later Meyer is still spewing out toxic fumes next door to where children play.

For decades neighbors of Meyer have complained of respiratory complaints including asthma, other chronic lung diseases, eye, throat and nose irritation. 80 of the 120 workers at Meyer live in our community: so they are continuously exposed to toxins both at work and at home. Like our friends who live next to Acme the clothes we hang out to dry often have to be rewashed since they get dirty immediately. Like our friends who live next to Acme we often cannot let our children play outside due how bad the pollution is. And just like our friends who live next to Acme we often have to close our windows on Chicago's hottest days because the smell of dirty air is so strong.

So we call on the City of Chicago to begin an immediate investigation into Meyer Steel Drum as a public nuisance, work with us to clean it up and move it into a strictly industrial area, at least 2 blocks away from where anyone lives.

For general information please email us here.